Halo- Aftermath
by Bunkerbird25
Summary: After a failed FTL jump, James is stuck in Cryo-stasis, for over 1,000 years, waiting for someone to release him. When four, adventurous, Xalins stumble upon the wreckage, they accidentally release the Cryo-stasis prison holding James captive. Will he be able to find more survivors as he attempts to live along side the natural inhabitants of Taula. Very OC
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Just an idea that my cousin asked me to test out, loved writing it, hopefully I'll continue it in the future.**

 ***-means definition/explanation at the end of the story.**

 **I don't own the Halo franchise,**

* * *

During the human covenant war, an offensive against the covenant was undertaken. Under the command of General Korbits, the Unsc struck at a vital covenant supply planet. Unbeknownst to Korbits, this assault was a trap set by the covenant with the help of some covenant sympathizers. None the wiser, General Korbits flew over 1,000 destroyer class frigates straight into hells gate. With over 50,000 Spartans at his disposal, morals could never be higher, expecting an easy win on a lightly defended planet, the men flew right into a hell known as, The Massacre of Qet.

The battle lasted a total of 3 days, taking place around the solar system of Qet. Being ambushed by the covenant, the Unsc were thrown into a frenzy, orders thrown around as frigates were destroyed left and right. On the third day, only three Unsc frigates remained; in a last ditch effort, all personnel on DCF Venom and DCF Storm, were evacuated onto EBC Dreadnought (DCF= destroyer class frigate, EBC= experimental battle cruiser). Once all spartans and high ranking generals were on board, both Venom and Storm's cores were set to overload, effectively glassing the whole solar system. The Dreadnought prepared to warp at light speed, without enough time to warp accurately, Korbits called for all spartans to enter cryo-stasis. A blind jump at light speed, was a very dangerous undertaking.

Ripping through space EBC Dreadnought exited light speed inside of a solar system, light years away from the solar system of Qet. During the jump, Dreadnought's damaged FTL drive malfunctioned. The limiter had been damaged, hurtling the cruiser through space faster than the ship was rated for, tearing it apart upon re-entry. Torn into three segments; the Dreadnought crash landed onto the planet of Taula, one of four planets circling a sun.

Taula was an inhabited planet that an alien race called home. The Xalin's, watched as three meteorites descended from the heavens. The Xalin priest declared the impact zones to be off limits to anyone, on the grounds of it being a curse from the demons of their religion. For 1,000 years the Dreadnought wreckage was left sitting, waiting for someone to release its occupants.

* * *

"Come one Xala, you're falling behind." A group of young Xalins were easily navigating through the dense jungle that their village resided in.

"Tilai, you know we aren't supposed to go to the cursed crash site!" Xala yelled to the older male.

"Bah, who cares what the old geezer says, he went senile a hundred years ago." Tilai shot back.

"Talin, Kala, back me up here, you know we should turn around right?" Xala pleaded to the other two members of the group.

"I've been curious about that site ever since my mother started to tell me I shouldn't go anywhere near it." Talin responded, another male from the group.

"Same, Mother always told me it was cursed, but after some research, the priest from a thousand years ago only dodged the question about his revelations on the meteorites being 'cursed' objects sent from Hule." Kala called back as she continued towards the Crash site.

"Am I the only one that thinks this is a bad idea?" Xala yelled as she kept pace with her friends.

"Yes!" the other three yelled in unison.

After about three hours of running, the adventurous Xalins approached the first signs of wreckage. A heat plate that had torn off of the Dreadnought upon re-entry into their atmosphere.

"What's this?" Talin asked as he slowly circled the rectangular piece. Kala brought out her scanning device she had gotten for her birthday about a month before. Pointing the device towards the metal, she pulled the trigger. Rays of light traced over the surface of the heat plate.

"It is a silicone based structure, traces of extreme heating then cooling were found…" Kala trailed off, her eyes widening slightly.

"What's wrong Kala?" Talin worriedly asked.

"I-it wasn't from an asteroid, this was used for space travel, it has residue left over from reaching and surpassing the speed of light." Kala answered in complete awe.

"Seeeee, I told you this was gonna be big." Talai shot a glance towards Xala who was slack jawed.

"I-I don't believe it." Xala squeaked out.

"You better start believing, because we're about to find out what this came from." Talai had already took off in the direction of the wreckage.

Xala was completely on board now, this could be a discovery of a lifetime, something that would go down in history.

"You coming Xala?" Kala questioned as she turned towards the retreating back of Talin and Talai.

"Y-yeah, I'm coming." the repercussions of breaking the law were at the farthest reaches of her mind now.

As they approached the space ship, more and more debris was found. Varying from chairs, to parts of vehicles that had been torn from the ship. Eventually a large canyon where trees rimmed the ledge came into view, only grass and other foliage grew at the bottom. Small ponds of water dotted the bottom, along with rocks and overgrown debris.

"Woah," Xala exclaimed as she stared at the massive canyon that was dug into the ground by the downed ship.

"Let's get down there and follow it." Talai said as he pulled out some rope from his pack.

Descending into the canyon was easy enough, Talai went first, followed by Xala, Kala, and finally Talin. Once inside of the canyon they set out following the direction of the crashed vessel. Venturing another twenty minutes, they caught sight of the massive hull that they had been looking for. It towered over the trees, hundreds upon hundreds of feet tall, made completely of the same plating that they had seen earlier. Approaching the ship they saw vines growing up the sides of the ship holding it into place.

"Let's find an entrance." Kala excitedly said as she headed for the ship.

"That looks like an entrance over there." Talin yelled as he approached a door that was slightly ajar.

Entering into the ship they were greeted by a storage room of sorts. The inside was a mess, having been thrown around upon impact. Venturing further inside, they found a room with a large table in the center. Many buttons adorned the rim of the table, and oddly it indented inwards at the center of the table. Another room branched off to the left, above was a sign that they couldn't read.

"What's in there, do you think." Kala questioned as she traced the symbols beside the door, Cryo-Stasis.

"I don't know, but we should really head back after we look, it's already getting dark outside." Xala answered, something about this whole scene screamed danger to her the closer she got.

"Agreed, search through this room then head back." Talin agreed with Xala.

"Then it's settled, all we need to do is get this door open." Talai grunted as he slid it open. Again the room was covered in a thick layer of dust. There were tube shaped objects lining the walls. In the center of the room was another console, smaller than that of the other room. Each of them went in different directions as they explored the room. Talai approached the console in the center finding a glass pad and a rectangle with many squares outlined on it.

"Kala, come scan this real quick." Talin inspected the screen.

"Coming." Kala approached him with her scanner out, ready to scan the mechanism. Scanning the keyboard, the scanner found that it still had power connected to it.

"Hmm, it seems to be a way of either communication, or accessing something with a code." Kala surmised as she reached towards the keyboard. Talai and Xala had joined them just as she pressed the large rectangular bar at the bottom of the board. Humming to life, the room was brought to life as each system came off of standby. Warnings popped up, giving a report on the crash landing. The tubes surrounding them began to beep, and faint lights began to pour out between the dust that covered the view ports.

"Woah, now that was awesome." Talai gasped as he moved towards one of the tubes, looking at the pad that had a blinking red screen.

Across the room Xala, approached a tube as well, reaching up to the brighter area of the tube she brushed the dust off with her hand. Light poured out, making her wince slightly at the sudden change. Adjusting to the sight, she focused on the contents of the tube. Staring back at her, was the skull of General Korbits, over the time that the ship had sat the life support system slowly shut down each of the stasis pods one by one prioritizing the higher ranked spartans before the generals.

"Gaah," Xala screamed as she gazed into the empty skull of the general.

"What's wrong," Kala yelped as she hurriedly approached Xala.

"Th-ther- there's a dead thing in there!" Xala exclaimed as she backed away from the tube she began to point at.

Peeking into the cryo-tube Kala stared at the dead man.

"Hmm, must not have been able to get out." Kala shrugged moving back towards Talin and the console.

"Hey, should I pick the three symbol or two symbol option?" Talin asked as he gazed at the screen.

"Go for the three, we might get more information that way." Kala responded, taking her place behind him. Touching the screen, he pressed the three symbols. Suddenly all around them metallic clicks were heard, each of the tubes began to open shaking the dust off of their lids. A loud hiss was heard as the tube directly behind the console opened up. Dust was blown away from the tube as it opened.

"What is that one doing?" Kala asked as she gazed at the tube.

"I don't know but, we should hide just in case something is still alive in these tubes." Talai responded, hiding in a closet on the other side of the room, joined by the other three shortly.

* * *

The first thing James felt was his aching joints, slowly he became aware of his surroundings. His spartan suit coming online, he noticed his sudden need for clean air.

"Argus, clean air?" James choked the sentence out. With an audible beep, Argus came online.

"Surrounding atmosphere deemed hospitable for intake." Argus, James' A.I. responded in an unnaturally human voice.

"Great." reaching up, James grasped his helmet releasing the pressure seal. Throwing it to the side he attempted to stand up. Overcome with extreme nausea, he collapsed to the floor, in a coughing fit.

"*Cough*, how long was I out?" James asked.

"Approximately 1,131 years."

"How the fu- *cough*." James broke into another coughing fit.

"After a certain amount of time, Dreadnought's main A.I. decided which pod's to support over the years."

"Okay, what's the report on the FTL jump." James regained his composure.

"During FTL, an unknown variable caused damage to the drive, tearing EBC Dreadnought apart." Argus surmised the events that occurred so long ago.

"What happened after, 'cause we are clearly on a planet of sorts." James pushed himself up into a kneeling position as he looked over his lifeless comrades.

"Dreadnought was torn into three segments, landing on this planet."

"That's it?" James shook his head at the lack of information.

"Affirmative, after re-entry into the planet's atmosphere, I was forced into standby." Argus almost sounded aggravated at the end.

"Hey now, I wasn't the one who called for a blind jump now was I?" James began thinking through the possible systems they could have jumped to. "Where are we then?"

"No data recorded."

"What?"

"Location undetermined."

"That far off huh?" James rose to his feet, grabbing his helmet. "Are my weapons still serviceable?"

"Affirmative?"

"You don't know do you Argus?" James questioned his A.I.

"Negative."

"*Sigh*, then I'll have to go and check… Argus do a perimeter scan for hostiles." Sliding his helmet back on, his H.U.D. lit up.

"Four, non-hostile, one undetermined." Argus called off the dots that appeared on the screen.

"How are there non-hostiles on an unmarked planet?" James began stretching his sore limbs.

"Four humanoid creatures activated the release procedure."

"Judging by the lack of an attacker, I'll guess that you're right with the non-hostile markings. What about the fifth marker, anything interesting."

"While not very large, definitely larger than the four non-hostile. Seems to be using tactics commonly attributed to hunting."

"Mark it as hostile."

"Understood."

Looking at his map, he noticed that the four non-hostiles were hiding in the room with him. 'They're probably hiding from me.' James thought to himself. 'I'll just head and grab my weapons, let them get away, and hopefully they don't aggravate the hostile.'

Moving quickly, James reached the weapon bay which contained his gear. His whole gear set was experimental, he had a plasma marksman rifle (dmr), along with a new pistol that also had plasma bolts. These weapons went along with his experimental armor dubbed Venator. While the suit itself wasn't experimental, the modifications it had definitely were. Instead of needing to externally gain power, his suit ran off of a plasma energy core that utilized the many plates that made up his angular armor to charge itself. Both weapons also charged while attached to the armor.

"Status update, where are the non-hostiles and the hostiles current locations." James finished gearing up, checking the weapons for degradation.

"They seem to be in a face off of sorts on the starboard exit ramp thirteen."

"Well, I didn't want to engage the natives so soon, but I guess I need to repay the favor." James sighed as he activated his own personally requested enhancement. Active camo.

* * *

"I can't believe something was still alive in here." Kala exclaimed, as they hurriedly rushed for the exit.

"Yeah, it's been sitting here for so long, how is that even possible." Talin agreed.

"Well, whatever it is it didn't look like a civilian." Xala huffed as she vaulted over a box, the group nearing the exit.

"Let's just get out of here before we find out what it was." Talai rushed out into the open, stopping dead in his tracks.

"Hey what's wrong?" Xala asked, bumping into his back.

"Mo-mongrel!" Talai yelped as the four-legged creature swiped at his throat.

"You're kidding right, first an alien now a mongrel?" Talin exclaimed as he went for his spear.

Noticing the threat, the mongrel whipped around to face the warrior, hissing aggressively. Leaping towards Talin, the mongrel swiped for the spear. The force of the impact threw Talin back towards the entrance. Talin's spear had been shattered into multiple pieces, his bones not faring much better from the impact. Multiple ribs were broken as he collided with the side of the ship. Turning its attention to the two females in the party, it growled as it slowly approached the two, as if expecting a weapon to appear out of nowhere. Lifting its massive paw, the mongrel went to strike Xala, and Kala. Shouting a war cry Talai shoved Xala out of the path of the paw, and attempted to get Kala out, only able to shield her from the attack. Both Kala and Talai flew across the area towards where Talin had passed out. Falling to the ground, Xala stared at the mongrel. Standing at over seven feet tall, the creature dwarfed their small stature. Lifting its paw once more preparing to finish the group off. Closing her eyes Xala prepared for death to come.

* * *

James weaved through the ship with unexpected grace, despite being stationary for over a thousand years. He quickly made it to the entrance that the fighting was taking place. Before he even made it to the door, he could hear the desperate cry of a man that was cut off by a meaty thud. Rounding the corner he saw the massive dog like creature that looked to be a mix between a dog and a rat that was the size of an overgrown bear. From his position he could see the small figure that had its full attention. Sprinting to wedge himself between the dog, he prepared to stop the paw from coming down on the poor person. The paw descended, James prepared for the impact that was sure to rattle any normal humans' bones, if not shattering them completely. The paw contacted his left arm, which he blocked like he was taking a punch from another spartan, and it sure felt like it came from one. The dog jumped away from the place it had stood in, sensing the danger.

"Hmm, smarter than you look, I guess." James shrugged, deactivating the active-camo. "Sadly, my rifle and pistol aren't charge yet, so this isn't going to be as clean as I'd like it to be."

With a faint hum, four purple blades that looked more like energy than blades protruded from his knuckle/hand guards. This was another experimental weapon that he had gone to Halsey with. He got the inspiration from a comic from a millennia ago.

"Let's do this." Cracking his neck, James launched forward, staying low and aiming for the throat of the beast. Reeling back, the blades swung harmlessly past, striking with its own paw, James brought his arms up to receive the blow. The blow had a lot more strength behind it than James had expected, throwing him a couple of feet to the side. Rushing back into combat, James let a volley of swings go, forcing the mongrel to dance around the devastating blows. Spinning on the ball of his foot, James planted a powerful heel right into the mongrel's cheek bone.

"Argus, how long until my guns are charged enough for at least one shot?" James asked as he dodged under the massive paw that swung for his head.

"Approximately twenty minutes if you continue to use the plasma blades." Argus immediately responded.

"If you dump all of the power that's being used for the blades and the rifle into the pistol, how does that time improve?" James was put on the defensive as the mongrel became enraged by the blow Carter had dealt him.

"Calculating." James dodged another paw that came way too close to making contact with his helmet.

"I need to know now, not after I get decapitated!" James yelled as yet another claw flew towards his stomach in an attempt to disembowel him.

"Can you hold on for another minute?" Argus questioned the spartan.

"Clearly, it's not like it's out to kill me with every swing." James exclaimed his response dripping with sarcasm as he continued desperately dodging each blow.

"45 seconds"

"Doesn't help, Argus"

"30 seconds,"

"Argus!"

"15 seconds"

The giant paw struck James' attempt at shielding his body, sending him hurtling through the air, landing right next to the astonished Xala. Upon landing, James made no attempt at getting up much less moving. Just as James had hoped, the Mongrel slowly approached him and Xala paying no heed to Xala. Standing triumphantly over James, the beast let out a deafening roar before it opened its maw preparing to finish the job.

"Weapon energized." Argus stated.

In one swift movement, James drew his pistol and rammed the barrel into its jaw, surprising the beast. Pulling the trigger, the plasma bolt fired off melting straight through leaving only an entrance and exit from where the bolt had passed. James pushed the beast off of him, letting his body go limp from all the pain of getting hit multiple times.

* * *

Xala couldn't believe her eyes, this alien had fought and beat a mongrel that even seasoned veterans in the hunters* would require a group to go after. She kept staring at the whole in the Mongrel's skull, a faint smoke wafted out of the hole. Then her eyes drifted to her savior, she noticed the very angular armor that was two-toned black being the primary and red being the secondary.

'I wonder if he's okay, he hasn't moved in a while." as if answering her worries, the suit of armor sat up abruptly. Its chest convulsed a couple of times as it reached for its head, and much to her surprise removed the helmet. Leaning over he spit out blood that had accumulated in his mouth.

"A-are y-you okay?" Xala stared into the man's deep blue eyes, he rubbed his eyes staring back at her in confusion. Then he spoke.

"Argus, please tell me I'm seeing things." James asked as he stared at the person in front of him.

"Negative, surprisingly you did not suffer brain damage."

"Why is there an elf sitting in front of me then?" James looked at the blonde hair and green eyes that paired with the long ears definitely made Xala assume the look of an elf. Xala continued to stare at him confused, not understanding what he was saying.

"U-um, thank you for saving me and my friends." Xala tried to convey her thanks to James, however unable to do so.

"What species is she then?" James questioned his helmet that sat a few feet away from him.

"According to the records, Xalin." Argus responded after some contemplation.

"Do we have their language recorded so we can download it?"

"Affirmative, this race has been encountered before."

"Download it, so I can communicate with her." James reached for his helmet.

"Download complete, assimilating language… Assimilation complete."

"So she can understand me now right?" James asked Argus.

"Affirmative."

"Wait you can speak our language?" Xala exclaimed in fascination.

"Long story… we need to treat your friends' wounds before they become fatal." James said as he stood up walking over to the forms of the three others. Surprisingly all of them had blonde hair, which James hoped wasn't true for the whole race, because that could get repetitive. Bending over he checked the wounds of each member of her group.

"This one has multiple cracked ribs and a sprained wrist," James was over Talin, "This one has multiple broken ribs and a broken arm, and the last only has a head injury."

"Will they survive?" Xala was worried about what would happen if they didn't make it through.

"None of it is life threatening however I will have to set the bones back into position." James looked to Xala for permission.

"As long as you can help them then do it." Xala understood the look he gave her. First was the sprained wrist, which was set into place with a sickening pop, then the ribs and arm which were slightly less sickening.

"What was that thing that attacked you guys?" James asked as he sat back from treating the head injury that Kala had gained from Talai and the paw crashing into her.

"It's called a mongrel, it's a predatory beast that is extremely formidable." Xala provided, as she gazed at him.

"Hmm, thing definitely was a beast, haven't fought anything like that for a while." James chuckled at his memories of fighting multiple hunters in his prime.

"What's your name?" Xala finally asked deciding it was safe to do so.

"James 001."

"What's the 001 for?"

"It's the number that I was assigned in my experimentation group." James said with a far off look in his eyes.

"How many people were in your… experimentation… group?" Xala continued.

"I was an experiment among experiments, so just me, I guess." James remembered the plentiful experiments that his body underwent.

"Oh, must have been lonely." Xala could only imagine what it must have been like.

"Eh, I've gotten used to it." James then looked back at her, "What about you what's your name?"

"I'm Xala."

"That's a cool name compared to the ones from my homeland."

"Really?"

"Yeah, despite our scientific prowess, we aren't the most creative species." James then looked at the sun.

"We should either set out for your home, or at least start heading back." James saw the sun begin to make its descent to the mountains about an hour ago. James surmised that it was around 4:00 P.M..

"How are we going to bring them though?" Xala asked worriedly.

"I'll carry these two," James motioned to Talai and Talin, "While you carry her."

"Are you sure you want to keep helping me, we've only been trouble for you."

"Actually, I've been in that spaceship for over a thousand years and you guys helped me out." James also wanted to meet her village to see if he could at least gain a base of operations to find the other wreck sites from.

"O-okay…" Xala seemed hesitant. Hoisting up Talin and Talai, James watched expectantly for her to lead the way. After standing there for a short while James could see that she didn't get the clue.

"You know, I have no idea where your village is, and you don't have to worry about me shooting you in the back because my hands are full." James re-assured her, hoping that he could get more information about this whole situation at their village, and that she would trust him just a tiny bit.

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading, if you liked it, I'll try to get another chapter out before Christmas. good luck on your travels, and venture on.**

 **Thank you too whoever pointed out all the mistakes I did, I think I found all of them, and yes I now understand the confusion at naming him Carter when there is someone named Carter already.**

 ***The hunters in the Xalin ranks are a special rank of soldier akin to special ops***


	2. Chapter 2: Introductions

**Sorry about how long it took to upload the second chapter, a lot of crap popped up back to back including my internet having a heart attack. I had a friend do some proof reading so hopefully it has better grammar but no promises.**

* * *

Tracing her friend's footsteps wasn't as hard as Xala had anticipated. They made a good amount of progress despite having to carry her three friends back to her village. It didn't take long, however, to reach a roadblock in the shape of a canyon wall. This is what Xala dreaded the most; she had no idea on how she would be able to get them out of the canyon even with James' help. Luckily they had only been traveling for about an hour before they reached the bottom of the canyon wall

"How are we going to get up there?" Xala panicked as she set Kala down gently. She tried her best to restrain her panicking, however, reaching the wall had finally broken her self restraint.

"Hmm, we'll have to find a path." James quietly said, while deep in thought.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Xala turned towards James frantically.

"Argus, find a suitable path that we can carry these three up safely." James began looking around to allow Argus to scan the area.

"Argus?" Xala questioned, "What the heck is Argus?"

"Oh yeah, Argus is an artificial intelligence that helps me with tactical information during combat and other missions. He is one of the 26 smart A.I.'s currently serviced, however, that number has probably changed over the years that I have been in Cryosleep." James continued looking around the area for a way out.

"And he can find a way out for us?" Xala asked skeptically.

"Yes, however he doesn't always have something helpful to say." James remembered the counting down that while somewhat useful, had no tactical advantage during the engagement.

"To the South there is an… acceptable path." Argus cut in before James continued his rant.

"What do you mean by acceptable?" James questioned Argus.

"The path has the least chance of you falling to your collective deaths," Argus responded cheerily.

"Great," James turned towards the south, looking for the supposed path. "You're kidding right?"

"Negative."

"That isn't a path, it's a ledge barely wide enough the carry two people," James exclaimed.

"Are you okay James?" Xala was confused by James' conversation with seemingly no one.

"Yeah, there is a path to the south, I'll have you and your friend go up there, while I slowly try to follow you with these two," James started to head over to the ledge.

"Are you sure you can make it up with them on your back," Xala asked worriedly.

"I'll be fine, just don't drop her and we'll get up in no time," James assured her.

"O-okay," Xala was skeptical as to the safety of the path but made her way slowly towards the top, reaching it without much issue, James however wasn't faring as well.

The process of making it up the side of the canyon was very difficult for James. Balancing two people on his shoulders and not having enough room for himself on the ledge made his advance slow. With only one major mishap, which was luckily at the widest point of the ledge, James slowly lied the Talai and Talin on the ground above before pulling himself up as well.

"I'm never carrying anyone in or out of there ever again," James exclaimed as he stretched his sore arms. While they were lighter than he had expected, the awkward positions he had to hold them in definitely put a few kinks in his muscles.

"Hopefully we won't have to," Xala said from her position next two her three friends.

"How far are we from your village?" James asked, looking towards the sun.

"I think we were running for around four hours before we came across the canyon," Xala informed him.

"It will probably take more than double that to get back then." James Picked Talin and Talai up once more. "Let's head out, once the sun is about half way down the horizon, we'll make camp for the night."

"Okay." Xala just wanted to be back in her home as soon as possible.

* * *

They had been traveling for about two hours before the sun had even touched the horizon. Throughout the trip, nothing important happened besides Xala and James asking each other questions to get to know the other a little better. James found out that the days were a few hours longer than on Earth, meaning that they still had another two hours before they had to stop.

James was pondering how he was going to find the other segments of the Dreadnought when Xala interrupted his thoughts with another question.

"What did you do for an occupation before you were trapped in the ship?" James didn't mind the questions, in fact he welcomed them in place of the silence.

"I was a soldier mostly." James tried to decide what was safe to tell her.

"Really, what did you do as a soldier?" Xala continued.

"Mostly secret missions, and protective details." James carefully skirted the question. "However, I wasn't only limited to those two." Shiro was referring to him being stationed on the destroyer class Lancelot which was destroyed while during his attempt of protecting it in a Sabre.

"Do you have any cool stories from when you were a soldier?" Xala turned to him now.

"I do, however most of them are considered ghost missions, meaning they never happened according to, well anyone." James looked towards her as they stood among the dense brush and tall green trees.

"Just change the names of the places, and people you fought, that way you aren't talking about a mission, you're telling a story." Xala pushed.

"Hmm, okay, this is a long story however." James chuckled at the fact he was about to tell someone about one of the missions he 'never' took part in. "It all started with this planet coming under attack." James began.

* * *

James told Xala an extremely detailed summary of a mission where he was sent on a ghost mission to a planet that had been under siege by Covenant Forces. He spent many months taking out groups of them slowly gaining a reputation among the occupying covenant forces as a devil in the woods. Eventually, his presence was enough to finally scare them off, when he assassinated one of the generals. He found out that the Covenant were highly religious and believed in different kinds of demons, which he of course used to his advantage in his future missions.

"Wow, you definitely didn't mess around did you." Xala admired as she continued walking.

"Yeah, not very much free time to be able to," James responded. "Sadly though I could never get the title of Hyper-Lethal, that was reserved for two amazing Spartans."

"Oh yeah, who were they?" Xala loved learning more about his people and cultures.

"Spartan John-117, A.K.A. Master Chief, and Spartan B-312, I admire both of them equally." James remembered the brief moments that he had met both of them. (Separately)

"They must have been amazing if you're praising them." Xala chuckled.

"They could route entire armies just with their presence, they struck fear into their enemies hearts. I could only hope to hold a candle to their careers." James was almost glowing with passion towards these two.

"It would be cool to meet them." Xala turned her gaze towards James.

"Yeah, they're probably dead now, being gone for that long, so much must have changed." James sadly remarked.

"S-sorry for bringing up a sad topic." Xala quickly said trying to remedy her mistake.

"It's fine, I've been thinking about this for a while now." James replied. Looking at the sky, James realized how much time had passed during only one of his stories.

"We should stop and make camp soon, it's about to get dark." James said as he looked for a clearing nearby.

"Yeah." Xala followed James as he searched for a spot to camp.

Finding a spot, a large clearing 13 meters across surrounded by thick foliage, James set up camp making a small lean-to for the each of them. After that was finished he began collecting wood for a fire.

"I'm going to set up a perimeter so we don't get ambushed during the night, you should get some rest in the meantime," James finished starting the fire and turned to the forest, "Keep an eye on the three over there."

"Don't worry I will," Xala looked towards the largest lean-to that housed her three friends.

Without another word James disappeared into the thick brush that surrounded the small clearing. James had already been gone for ten minutes before she started hearing shuffling in the vicinity.

"Who's there," Xala searched for the sound, which originated from the lean-to. Groans began to echo from the lean-to, surprising Xala. Jumping to her feet, Xala sprinted over to her friends quickly peeking into the area.

"Thank goodness, You're alive." Xala exclaimed as her friends winced at her sudden voice.

"What happened," Talai asked as he slowly pushed himself up into a cross-legged position.

"Yeah, it feels like I was hit by a truck," Kala agreed.

"The last thing I remember is being hit by something big," Talin continued their thoughts.

"Well, all three of you did get thrown around by a mongrel," Xala was still surprised at their sudden awakening.

"So we're dead," Kala sighed before collapsing back onto the floor.

"No, we were saved before we got completely wiped out by it." Xala leant against the pole holding up the lean-to.

"Wha- who would have been anywhere near that place." Talin looked up, surprise written all over his face.

"It's a long story, that he can explain better himself," Xala beckoned the three to follow her to the fire that was in the middle of the clearing. "I don't even know where to start."

Off to the side of the clearing more rustling was heard, the bushes parted, yet nothing could be seen to have parted them.

"Ah, so you finally woke up I see." James deactivated his active-camo, revealing himself.

"What is he doing here," The three jumped at his sudden arrival

"Just passing by, what does it look like," James scoffed as he took a seat at the campfire.

"He saved us from the mongrel," Talin realized.

"Ding ding ding, and whatever that was it definitely didn't want to sit down and die," James sighed.

"Why did you save us if it was so much trouble," Kala questioned.

"Do I need a reason to help you," James stared into the flames of the fire.

"No, but I'm worried that you're gonna use us for some sort of ransom," Kala countered.

"A reasonable thought, however I don't have any idea where I am, so I'm just going to get my bearings then hopefully find the rest of the Dreadnought and it's crew," James shrugged.

"So we don't have to worry about you stabbing us in the backs," Talai interjected.

"I've been traveling with Xala for a few hours already and she's still alive, in fact I was carrying you and the other guy over there," James tried to sound offended.

"That's right I haven't told you their names yet, have I," Xala exclaimed, as Talin and Talai blanched at the reveal.

"Nope," James responded.

"I'm Talai,"

"I'm Kala,"

"I'm Talin,"

"Nice to meet you I'm James, I'm a soldier from my planet that got stranded on your planet around a thousand years ago, how I'm alive I'll never know, but yeah," James introduced himself.

For the next hour stories were shot around the campfire between James and the group. Everything had been great, no fighting, suspicion, or aggression in fact they seemed very interested in his past. Xala had nodded off at the 45 minute mark, understandably due to carrying her friend for quite the distance. His barrier had only had a few birds and other small creatures cross it, so James wasn't very worried. That was until Argus ruined everything-

"Warning, multiple large creatures have crossed the perimeter barrier!"

"What," James exclaimed, surprising the group around him and waking Xala.

"What's wrong," Kala inquired.

"A group of, well... something, crossed the barrier I set up earlier."

"40 meters out," Argus warned. "Heading directly for us."

"Crap, uhh, do we know if their hostile," James quickly got up drawing his now fully charged rifle.

"Behavior points towards a scouting party," Argus informed. "30 meters."

"Okay, just to be safe, you guys get behind me, and if I yell run, what do you do," James tested the teens.

"We run," Xala answered.

"Good, now don't forget that," The Xalins quickly grouped up behind him.

"20 meters, 15 meters," Argus continued.

"Those are some heavy footsteps, how many are there again," James stared forward.

"Four total."

"Great." James stood, waiting for the group to break the bushes. "Are they mounted on horses?"

"Negative." At Argus' response, four bipedal minotaurs broke through the foliage, all but one wielded axes yes plural axes. The last one had a large butcher's knife.

"I'm beginning to see a pattern in the creatures on this planet," James sighed as he prepared for battle"RUN!"

* * *

 **A/N: While annoying I can't stop myself from leaving a cliff hanger, but don't worry next chapter is gonna have a metric ton of crap go down.**

 **It was a little short I'll be honest, but the next chapter is most likely going to be the biggest yet.**


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